Craig Jackson, BCU

Professor Craig Jackson is head of the psychology division in Birmingham City University’s school of social sciences. As a professor of occupational health psychology he is an expert of the effect of work and workplaces on people physical and psychological well-being. He also researches the relationship between work and crime, and has provided input to numerous TV documentaries on the subject. He is an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society and is a consultant to several companies and organisations including Shell, Rolls Royce, the NHS and RoSPA.

Dr Kate Gooch, University of Birmingham

Dr Kate Gooch is a lecturer at Birmingham Law School at the University of Birmingham. Her primary interests are criminal law, child law and penology. To date her work has focused on children’s rights and children in detention, and she is currently undertaking a major project on prison violence and bullying. She has several published works on her subject, and has worked with Birmingham Youth Offending Service. She holds an LLB in law and a masters in criminal law and criminal justice.

Melanie Wakeman, BCU

Melanie Wakeman is a senior lecturer in applied physiology in the school of Allied and public health professions at Birmingham City University. She specialises in nutrition, and the study of how nutrition affects behaviour, particularly in children and teenagers. She is a member of the Nutrition Society and is a frequent commentator on her subject. She has contributed to a number of specialists papers and publications.

Mark Williams-Thomas, BCU

Mark Williams-Thomas is a police child protection expert turned journalist and lecturer. He was a detective and family liaison officer with Surrey police before setting up a specialist child protection and risk management consultancy. A frequent media commentator on child protection, he researched and presented the ITV documentary which revealed the allegations of child abuse which surrounded Jimmy Savile. He holds an MA in criminology from Birmingham City University and is a visiting lecturer there.

Investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas

Sergei Turitsyn, Aston University

Russian-born Professor Sergei Turitsyn, head of the Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies at Aston University is one of the world’s acknowledged experts on lasers, photonics and high-speed optical communication. He has been a member of the scientific advisory committees for 16 major international conferences on his research subjects. He holds the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, and is a Fellow of the institute of Physics.

Martin Freer, University of Birmingham

Professor Martin Freer is head of physics and astronomy at the University of Birmingham. He is also a director of the Birmingham Centre of Nuclear Education and Research and the Birmingham Energy Institute. His main research area is the structure of light and this research is carried out at international facilities worldwide. He promotes research to support the UK’s investment in nuclear power generation. He chairs the Nuclear Physics Advisory Panel and is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

Karen Turner, University of Birmingham

Karen Turner is based in the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham. She is the Cancer Research UK senior nurse with responsibility for clinical research nurses, and liaising with Cancer Research UK locally and nationally. She is the public face of clinical trials in the region liaising with researchers, media and professionals. She trained as a registered nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, with a special interest in oncology nursing.

Michael Roden, University of Birmingham School of Education

Michael Roden, an experienced school leader, is the first principal of the University of Birmingham’s school - the UK’s first secondary “University Training School” which opened last September. The school brings together pupils from different social and cultural backgrounds, with different levels of ability, to form a learning community aimed at maximising academic achievement. Michael Roden was previously headmaster at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys, and was vice-chair of the Yardley Educational Foundation.

Michael Roden, principal of the new University of Birmingham School

Janet Godsell, WMG

Professor Janet Godsell is professor of operations and supply chain strategy at Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick. She joined WMG from Cranfield University School of Management where she was a senior lecturer. As well as academia she has had a successful career in industry, working in senior positions at ICI/Zeneca and Dyson. She is on the manufacturing steering committee of IMechE and the board of the scientific committee of the European Operations Management Association. She is on the editorial board of three specialist journals and is an advocate of schoolchildren taking up STEM subjects.

Myra Nimmo, University of Birmingham

Professor Myra Nimmo is professor of exercise physiology and head of the College of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham. She is also a Pro-Vice Chancellor of the university. Over the last 15 years she has contributed significantly to the medical knowledge base around the effects of exercise on the body. She is the author of Being Active, a book on improving later life published by Age UK, and The Female Athlete - an Olympic textbook of the relationship between science and sport. She has a PhD from Glasgow University Veterinary School.